As a person that spends a lot of time trying to get better at drawing, I have read a billion and a half art instruction books. Not all of them are good, and some of them I feel even steer you in the wrong direction. So I'd like to try and distill the information that I've accumulated over the years for you here—which books actually worked for me. I'll provide links as well. What a swell guy, huh?

This book is another must-have. Mr. Vilppu has spent decades teaching animators how to draw with fluidity, and he has tons of neat little explanations for how he thinks about the figure that really help.

He has a ton of DVDs on anatomy, but I prefer the more abstract ones mentioned in the previous paragraph. I made the mistake of watching his anatomy DVDs before watching the Drawing Manual Lecture DVDs, and that's like trying to do calculus when all you know is simple addition/subtraction.

This is a one-stop shop for learning and understanding perspective. This is a comic book that teaches you perspective. I spent about 2 weeks really practicing the ideas that he puts forth in this book and I feel I haven't really ever had to look back. He makes it uncomplicated, where a lot of books on perspective bludgeon you with so much info that you can barely breathe.

I had this book as a kid and it really drove home the points of line-of-action and construction to me at a very early age. I actually didn't remember this book until about a year ago when I saw some of it online and realized how much of it I had absorbed and how much it stuck with me. Great, great stuff.

A lot of this book teaches about the history of Disney animation which is interesting enough in its own right, but it also teaches you the principles of animation which can be used in any type of drawing. And it has all kinds of great examples…Just get this book. It's beautiful. Even non-artists should own it.

This one I've provided the best link I could find. It's hard to find this thing in print. I found it as PDFs online by scouring. I'd recommend you do the same because I think it's out of print. The lessons in it are invaluable. The chapters on figure construction and composition especially. Good luck finding it!

A great book on figure drawing with simple concepts as well as complex concepts. I mention this one cautiously…I feel that I jumped into it too early and didn't get it. It's only upon re-visiting that I feel that I "get" it. So maybe read the other books mentioned before jumping head-first into this one.

11) "UNDERSTANDING COMICS" by Scott McCloud

An awesome study of how comics work and what the visuals mean. It helps you to think about comics in a new way, a more academic way. You begin to understand that there is much more going on than what you see on the surface. It should help you to become a better storyteller.

I was doing some studying of construction this morning and it got me to thinking on some stuff that might be helpful to you crazy kids that wanna break into comics as artists.

When I was coming up, I had an irrational confidence. I didn't know it was irrational at the time, but I can now see it upon reflection. I just KNEW that I was gonna be able to do this one day.

But when I go back and look at old drawings I did, I think, "What the hell was I thinking?" I mean, I was BAD. I definitely could draw, but I was a complete amateur in every way. A hobbyist. I was a guy that had a better jump shot than his friends and somehow I knew that meant I could play in the NBA.

This confidence could have been a hindrance, though, if it was the wrong type of confidence. My confidence wasn't that I was already good enough to draw professionally. My confidence was in that I would look at art and think, "I can figure out how to do that".

I've seen plenty of guys along the way that had the wrong type of irrational confidence. In their eyes, they are already good enough. They were born great and it is just on the world's shoulders to stand up and notice them. These guys hit a certain level of ability and just seemed to stall out. Why? Because their self-assuredness told them that they didn't need to study. They didn't need to read books on illustration or de-construct their favorite artist's work. They were already pleased enough with themselves.

But the irrational confidence that I had, that I would hope that you as an aspiring artist would have, is that you can teach yourself to be better. Because you can ALWAYS get better.

I would read articles and interviews with my favorite artists and they would mention a certain book and I'd go get it. I specifically remember Jim Lee mentioning George Bridgman's anatomy books. I now own several volumes of his books that they later re-printed in one large volume…Which I also have.

I was a huge fan of artists that could really portray action and energy in drawings, so I scoured the net to find a book called "Drawing Force" by Mike Mattesi that detailed how to make your figures come to life. I've read Loomis, Hogarth, etc. etc. etc.

I would study my favorite artists, often copying their work just to see how close I could get to what they were doing…Just to know what it felt like to draw great.

But the reason I read so many of these books and did these exercises is because in my mind I thought, "Well, I can't draw the way I want to yet, but I sure as hell can work as hard as anyone to figure it out."

You need THAT type of confidence.

Lack of confidence can also be a huge hindrance. "That is too difficult, I could never figure out how to do that so I'll just avoid it forever." You don't get to avoid it forever. Drawing comics means being able to draw anything all the time. And if you can't draw it, you have to have the confidence that working at it will make you capable.

In conclusion: You probably suck at drawing. Don't worry, we all did at one point. But you CAN fix that by working your ass off. Never believe that you're already there. Even the greatest comic book artist in the world is still probably looking for something to improve upon. And never, ever, ever let yourself believe that you CAN'T do something. You can. You just haveta figure it out!

I have a ton of art posted on my Facebook fan page. On here I generally just post finished pieces. But on the fan page you can see sketches and raw scans of pages and all kindsa good stuff. You can also see more on my Tumblr. Check 'em out.

If you are interested in drawing comics but need to know how, we've created a book for you.

I know there are plenty of books out there that help you learn to draw comics, but with this one we've created a book that you can actually draw in and put to practice the lessons you've learned. We give you blue line templates to work over.

I contend that if you complete all the exercises in this "workbook", you will be a better artist, and hopefully be able to start working on your own comics.

As of last night, I am finished with my interior work on Scarlet Spider. I'm remaining on the book to do covers.

As you may have heard, I'll be joining Jonathan Hickman on his legendary Fantastic Four run. I'll also be joining some of the greatest names in comic book history as a contributor to this fantastic series. Yes, I will be drawing a book created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. What an honor.

Having said that, it is still difficult to be leaving Scarlet Spider. This is the book that changed everything in my career. Not only that, but I KNOW it's a really great book. I feel like Chris Yost and I both really did our best work of our comic careers. We hit it off right from the beginning and both pushed each other to be the best we could be. Lucky for you, Chris is staying on the book with the tremendously talented Khoi Pham handling art chores.

Now that I'm finished I feel like I can't just leave the book without giving proper thanks to all the fans that supported it. You guys made the book a hit. And you made me feel great about the hard work I was putting in. It was truly one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. The fans from Houston, Texas especially. Steve Wacker suggested we put the book in your city and you guys rewarded his forward-thinking by supporting the book beyond our wildest imaginations. The visit that Chris and I made to your city was a highlight of my career/life. THANK YOU!

One of my favorite descriptions of Scarlet Spider in reviews was that it was like "an indy book set in the Marvel Universe." I could not agree more. That's how it felt for us working on it. Not that Kaine is a new character, but he is a CHANGED character in a new location. We got to do whatever we wanted and create so much. i think this is an interesting formula for great comics and I hope Marvel does more of it in the future.

In the end, this series was such a hit that it earned me a promotion. Fantastic Four is a flagship title at Marvel and they wanted to put me on it. And of course, it's an opportunity that I can't turn down. But I do feel that Chris and I laid plenty of groundwork for the future of Scarlet Spider...Plenty to keep it a quality book for a long time to come.

And by the by...I still have issue 6 coming out. To be honest, I think it's my strongest work to date. I put everything I had into it. I even inked it myself. And Edgar Delgado's colors are rolling in right now and they are gorgeous. I can't wait to see this thing all put together.

Special thanks to Steve Wacker and Tom Brennan for the opportunity and keeping me organized and on task, Chris Yost for being a badass writer, Marte Gracia and Edgar Delgado for their great colors, Mikey Babinski for slinging some serious ink, Joe Caramagna for slinging some serious letters, and Dan Slott for teeing up this character for us. Thanks to my wife for putting up with the late hours so that we're WAAAAAY behind on our favorite tv shows. And thanks, of course, to the fans.

I am now open for sketch pre-orders for C2E2. I will only be taking 6 pre-orders so that I can have plenty of room for people that are attending the show. Also, the pre-orders are $125, while buying sketches at the show is only $100. Just a heads up.

If you are interested in pre-ordering sketches, please email me at stegmanr@gmail.com. I'll set you up with paypal info and everything needed.

Also, at C2E2 I will be debuting two new prints, both limited to 100 copies. They will be $10 each. One is the AvX cover featuring Cyclops and Cap, and the other is Scarlet Spider. See them below. Get 'em whilst they're hot!

Just a heads up...I post a lot of process stuff over at my Tumblr blog, which is located here: ryanstegman.tumblr.com

I know a lot of you guys like process stuff, but I like to keep my DA gallery to mostly completed stuff. It's just a thing that I like. But yeah, check out Tumblr to see process shots nearly every day!

**edit**

I should also add that I would LOVE to be able to reply to each of you individually on here, but it's just too much. I'm not the world's fastest artist so I really have to budget my time and right now most of my communications are done on Twitter. And I communicate on there. A lot. Some would say too much.

So if you wanna ask me anything or talk to me, hit up RyanStegman on Twitter!

Okay, so last week I posted about taking pre-orders for sketches at NYCC. The response was OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of the idea. So, I'm going to open up the list right now. I've already taken some pre-orders, and I only want to take 12 so that I can still take some at the show. So get in ASAP if you're interested!

The sketches are on 9 x 12 and they are ink with some marker. They cost $100.

Email me at stegmanr at gmail dot com if you're interested and I'll give you my paypal info assuming that I still have openings.

Thanks to everyone who replied last week prompting me to take pre-orders! You were a huge help.

Next week I'll be at the New York Comic Con. And I'll be doing sketches. The price will be $100. The sketches will be single character on 9 x 12 with ink and some marker.

What I'm thinking about doing is taking 5 per day. I'm not sure if I'm going to take the 5 each morning or if I'm gonna take them all up front, first 20 that get in get a sketch by Sunday. What do you guys think/prefer?

Email me at stegmanr at gmail dot com and let me know.

Also, do you guys prefer to do pre-orders via email? I honestly don't know. Email me about that too.